MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY TELETHON TOPS 1984 FUND-RAISING, SPIRIT

Organizers of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day telethon reported "outrageous" giving that, like the national MDA effort, topped last year's total of contributions.

The 21 1/2-hour telethon prompted television viewers from Boca Raton to Vero Beach, and people who attended MDA fund-raising events, to kick in $359,265 to fight the crippling disease, said MDA volunteer Kathleen Daley. That topped last year's total of $343,196.

Nationally, MDA raised more than $33.1 million, outdoing the $32 million raised last year, she said.

"There's not a dry eye in the house. We are all so moved," Daley said. "I never worked at anything so outrageous. I can't believe how great it is. I can't believe the positive feeling . . . Everyone's going crazy."

John Matthews, weatherman for WPEC-TV (Channel 12) and one of the hosts of the telethon, was ecstatic after the show went off the air.

"This is the fifth year I've done the telethon, and I've never seen such a massive turnout," he said.

Volunteers spent the day answering telephones at the Boynton Beach real estate office of William A. Nichols, one of two Palm Beach County pledge centers that fed dollar updates every 15 minutes to the county's central location at the Airport Hilton.

Evelyn Martin, the office manager who coordinated the telethon efforts, said she was disappointed more people didn't show up to enjoy the dunking booth and other carnival games set up outside the realty office, but said several hundred people called in donations ranging from $2 to $200.

Palm Beach County firefighters completed a round of fund-raising activities including a "boot drive," in which motorists stopped at intersections were asked to put their donation in firemen's boots.

When it was all over, the firefighters had raised $43,339, more than double the $18,000 raised last year.

Fisher said the firefighters based their operations out of the Palm Beach Savings and Loan at Okeechobee Road and Military Trail, and "adopted" the child of one bank employee to be their muscular dystrophy poster child for next year.

"These guys do a good job of protecting all the community all year," said fire chief Herman Brice, "but for this their heart really went out."

One incident left a blemish on the fund-raising effort. Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies were called to the Foxy Lady lounge on Military Trail west of Lake Worth where two men came into the bar Monday night and grabbed a big pot of money that lounge patrons haddonated. The men fled south on Military Trail and escaped. Authorities were uncertain how much money was taken.